Crown-branding attachment for bottling-machines.



. F. M. GILMORE & M. H. MULKEY.

GROWN BBANDING ATTACHMENT FOR BOTTLING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED JAN.21,1908.

909,396. Patented Jan. 12. 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Fig. l. A

QNVENTQRES.

1V1 artinH. Muikey. Frwd. flilmore.

ruz Nmmrs PETERS co., WAsHlNcroN, u. c.

I. M. GILMORE & M. H. MULKEY. GROWN BRANDING ATTACHMENT FOR BOTTLINGMACHINES.

09,396. #PPLIGATION FILED JA N. 21,1908. -Paltented Jan 12 wa'rm sssss.1vEN-roRs..-" Martin If. M 111 key; Fred 4 .Gflmore.

WW7 1y I 7 1n: NORRIS PBYEII$ cm, wlulummau. n. c.

s ars 1; Bron.

FRED M. GILMORE AND MARTIN H. MULKEY, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

CROWN-BRANDING- ATTAOEVIEN'I FOR BOTTLING-MACHINES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRED M. GILMORE,

I and TVTARTIN H. MULKEY, citizens of the ments for Bottling-Machines,of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in crown branding andbottlingmachines, whereby the crowns may be branded automatically by,and during the operation of the 1 bottling machines, without necessityof special attendance for this purpose.

Our invention comprises the combinations of parts defined by the claimsterminating this specification.

The object of our invention is to sim lify and improve the mechanism andmethods used in branding bottle crowns and articularly to enable thiswork to be one in connection with the crowning of the bottles andautomatically by an attachment which is operated by or in connectionwith the crowning machine.

The drawings accompanying this specification show our invention embodiedin the form which is now preferred by us.

Figure l is a side elevation with parts in section, of parts of acrowning machine having our branding attachment mounted thereon. Fig. 2,is an end elevation of our attachment, the frame thereof being insection. Fig. 3 is a side view of the same with the side plate of theframe removed, the parts bein in the working position. Fig. 4, is asectioned view of the branding head and the means which may be employedfor heating it when gas or gasolene is employed for this urpose. Fig. 5,is a transverse section throug one of the tappet pins and its nut,employed for actuating the branding attachment. Fig. 6 is a separateview of the spring employed for holding these tappet ins as placed.Fig.7 is a view of the comp ete crowning machine showing the manner ofmounting and connecting our device thereto.

In connection with the bottling of liquors Where metal caps or crownsare used having a cork washer between the crown and bottle end, it is acommon practice to brand the in ner surface of'the cork washer, as byplacing thereon figures indicating the date when it was bottled, or anyother matter which it may be considered desirable to have thereon.

Specification'of Lett'ers'latent. Application filed January 21, 1908.Serial No. 411,979. I

Patented Jan. 12, 1909.

As commonly done, this involves two distinct operations. conducted upontwo distinct machines and requiring separate attendants. By ourinvention We provide an attachment which may be connected with thecrowning machine and operated automatically thereby, whereby t e crownsmay he branded in connection with the operation the crowning machine andas needed, thereby avoiding much of the eX ense of the cost of attentionfor such branding machines.

In Fig. 7 is shown a crowning machine of a type, for attachment towhich, our invention is peculiarly adapted. Th s machine has a hopper A,for the reception of the crowns, a feeding device B, by which the crownsare selected and properly disposed for delivery to the feed chute O, bywh1ch they are delivered to the revolving disk, D, carrying a pluralityof crowning heads E. The bottles to be crowned are placed upon arevolving table beneath the disk D and when they reach the pointoccupied by the bottle F, the bottle is forced upwards into the crowninghead, Where the crown is secured thereon. These parts are such as are incommon use in machines now on the market, and, except as they arecombined with features characteristic of our invention, are not claimedby us. These parts are illustrated and herein mentioned simply to show atype of machine with which our invention may be used, and the manner ofapplying it thereto. This mechanism being old and common, will not beherein described, except as may be necessary to illustrate theconnection and operation of our invention.

The chute O, throu h which. the crowns are delivered from the opper tothe base of the crowning heads E, has an opening extending throughoutits length, of such a size and shape as will accommodate the crownssingly, that is, without superposition. Usually this chute has a centrallongitudinal opening or slotin its outer face which permits visualinspection to determine whether the crowns are being properly fed. Forour purpose, an opening in the face of this chute crowns may bebrandedwhile passing through the chute. The slot spoken of may, in manyordinary branding machines ant the entire should be provided ofsufficient size that the branding head 12, which is securedto one end ofa cylinder 1. This. cylinder is mounted to reciprocate lengthwise andline with the opening in the feed chute C, of the. crown-v ing machine.The cylinder 1 is supported by two, plates, lO.-.and 11, which are. inturn supported by sleeves or tubes, 2, sliding upon r0 s 20, whichconnect the outerface54 of the frame with theinner face 5.

The branding head 12, may be heated in In this latter, a

This

receive the end of-a supply tube'91. Air for -'mixture with the {gas isadmitted through the h0les' 93; escape from the cylinder Ithroughtheopen- 1ngs'l3. The branding head and the cylinder 1-- are "held awayfrom the-chute C, and the crown "therein; by-mea-ns of two springs 23,which "lief-between thehead 5 and the 1 plate 11.'- 'These willcompress-and permit the advance the position shown in-Fig. 3. Thisadvance- -ment of the bra-riding head is produced through the action oftheshaft 3 and the forked arms 30, secured to this shaft which 40 2.Thisshaft3 is actuated through-a crank "arm32, iink 33, and cam rod40,whi'ch car- The products of combustion of" the branding head upon thecrowns or to engage washers 21 secured: up on the 1 sleeves ries uponits end the cam-4, so placed-as to be engaged'zby tappet inemberscarriedby the 'crownlng hea The connection between the arms 30-and the'brandinghead isof a "yielding character-s0 as to compensate for possibledifierences'whichmay occur" in the *device-so as to present them one'ata time in proper position for "being branded. "These "pins enterthe-chute towards its edge' i-n the angles between the circles of thecrowns.

".Twostop pins are provided, one pin'7, entermg the :chutein position tohold the'crown thickness of the crowns or otherwise.

The crowns which-are placed loosely inthe hopperA, areselected-an'dproperly disposed -'-so as to' be delivered one at a timean'd-prop-"e'rly faced to'the up er end of the feed'chute These crowns -s ide downthe chute C, but are checked bystop pins carried by our whichis-beingbranded; The other pin, '70,

=--isplaced asufficient distance lower down to en age and hold the-crownwhich li'esneXt "be 0w the onewhichis being branded;=a-nd so- 'tionofthe spring 60.

acts.

as to check downward movement of the row of crowns, so that the crownI18Xl3 above it will thereby be held in branding position during thetime when the first pin 7 is withdrawn.

These pins, 7 and 7 O, are connected tomove .al-ike'and oppositely bymeanssofa lever 6,

which is connected to each of said pins and is pivoted upon a portion ofthe frame as for instance, the bar 52. The spring 61, is made ofsufficient strength to be capable ofovercoming the opposedspringbOpand'hold the --pin 7 advanced within the slot-of thefeed chute.tween the-lever 6, and -one-of the -moving- -plates, 10- or 11.

This spring is so'place'd' as to act be- InFig."1,'we-"have shown thisspring "as acting intensionbetween the. plate 1 1, and lever 6; in Fig-3we have shown this spring as acting in compress1onbetween the plate 10and lever6. vided, which acts between the --lever"6 and a portion of theframe so as to insure the advancement of thestop pin'TOyand-thewithdrawal of the pin 7,-whenever the branding head iswithdrawn to its normal-position.

The springs 60 and 61 actinopposite'direc- "tions upon the same members,but'the spring 61 is intended to be of sufficient strength to be able toovercome the'actio'n of the spring 60 when the branding head isadvanced, and at other times to havea sufliciently slight 1mtial tensionas to notinterfere" with the ac- A spring 60 is prosol In the operationof a device of-thischaracv --te1', it is desirable to have some meansfor indicating the fact in case-the supply of crowns to the brandingdevice should become interrupted. =We haveytherefore, provided anelectric signaling devicewhich will cause a bell to ring in case thebranding-device 1s 0p- -erated without there being'a crown in positionfor branding. This device as shown is as follows: An electric signalbell83, of any suitable construction, isprovide'd, together *with abattery-82 or-other source of electricity. One side of the circuit 81,"is connected "witha metal plug 8, which is mounted within aninsulating washer 80,-so:as to be in direct line with thebrand-ing'head; The other side is connected in any suitable way with theThe crowns :which are belng inner surface, upon which the branding headWhen, therefore, the branding head meets one of these crowns,electric'connec- 'tion will not be made between the two branches of thesignalin circuit, and'the bell will not ring.

mlssing,

W hen, owever,-a crown is the crowning head =w1ll' advance until itcontacts with the plug S,"thus-r-completing'.

the circuit and causing the bell toring.

The type of machine upon; which we "have 7 disk D isa rotatingtablegcarryingsupports for thebottles F. As these tables revolve, themechanism causes the bottles to rise u I when they reach the point F.This bottle 1s forced upward powerfully against the crowning head, andby such action the crown is secured upon the bottle. This type ofmachine carries within each crowning head a reciprocating member orplunger, the upper end of which is shown at 46 in Fig. 1. Thisreciproeating member is held downward by a powerful spring 48, whichspring furnishes the resistance against which the crowning is done. Thecrowning heads E, or the easing which contains the crowning mechanism,are inclosed at the upper ends by means of caps 49.

The members so far described are those which are common in machines ofthis type. We have made one slight change in the construction in orderto adapt the machine to the operation of our device.

In the upper end of the reciprocating member 46, we have drilled anaxial hole 47, within which reciprocates one end of the tappet pin 43.In the upper portion ofthe cap 49 we have made a hole which receives oneend of the plug 44, which is threaded and secured in place by means of anut. This plug 44, contains a hole of such size as to receive the pin43, and permit its end to be projected above the same, or into the position shown in Fig. 1. This pin is of such length that it may be forceddownward to such an extent that its upper end is flush with the upperend of plug 44. The earn 4, by which the crown-brander is o erated, isso placed that it will be engaged y these tappet pins 43, as they arecarried about by the revolution of the table D. If these pins areprojected when they reach earn 4, they will force the cam backward, thusreciproeating rod40, and through the mechanism described actuating thebranding head. If, however, one of these pins is not projected, the cam4, will not be moved when the corresponding crowning head passes thesame.

By this principle wesecure the operation of the branding head incorrespondence with the actual crowning operations performed. In otherwords, if the crowning of a bottle is omitted, the brander will notoperate when this crowning head reaches it.

We provide means of a yielding character, and of sufiicient strength tohold the tappet pins 43, in whatever position they may be placed, untilthey are acted upon by some stronger force. Such means as shown consists of providing the pin with peripheral grooves, and en a ing thesegrooves by a spring catch. T e spring catch illustrated is shownseparately in Fig. 6, and in connection with the plug in Figs. 1 and 5.The spring consir ts of a wire 46", and is bent in the form of a ringand lies within a groove formed about the plug 44.

One end of this spring is bent inwardly, as shown in Fig. 6, and passesthrough a radial hole in the plug, and engages with the groovedsurfaceot the pin 43, to hold it in whatever position it may be placed..These pins are e evated by the action of placing the crown upon thebottle,

and remain elevated until they have passed the cam oi the brandingattachment. After passing this attachment they are en aged by a s ring71,.which is mounted on t e lowersur ace of the hopper A, and within arecess 72 of such character that in case one of the pins should becomestuck and refuse to depress, the spring may be forced upward into thiscavity and there would be no breakage of parts. This spring is ofsufiicient strength that it will depress all of the tappet pins as theypass beneath it. It, therefore, a crown-- ing head is not actuated orloses its crown when passingthe crowning position, its cor- We are awarethat the principles of our invention might be otherwise embodied asapplied to machines of other types, and that t e construction of themembers may be varied from those shown as applied to ma chines ofthis-particular type. We do not, therefore, wish to be limited to theexact mechanisms herein shown and described, but claim our inventionbroadly as expressed in the claims.

What we claim is,

1. The combination with a bottle crowning machine, of a crownrandingdevice, means for normally holding the branding member thereof out ofengagement with the crown, and, means for operating the crown-' brandlngdevlce bythe crowning machlne tobrand the crowns only as fed to thecrowning machine. 1

2. The combination with a bottle-crown ing-machine, of a crown-brandingattachment, means for operating said attachment from the crowningmachine, and means for preventing the branding action of said attachment6X06, t as the crowns are fed.

3. A crownranding attachment adapted for attachment to and operation bya bottle crowning machine, and normally held in inoperative position,and means for operating said attachment from the bottle crowningmachine.

- 4. A crown-branding attachment for bottle crowning machines normallyheld out of branding position and means for operating said attachmentfrom the crowning machine controlled by the prior crowning action of thecrowning heads.

' .5. A crown-brandingzidevic'eizadapted'ior attachment to a, ;bottlecrowning :machine, -.means .QfOIU operating-3 said 1 device from 1the.crowning machine, and means" for preventing more thanTOIlGgjdPPliGfifiOH. of the branding =member tothegcrown. r I

.6. A 1 vcrown -.--bran ding flattachment for rowining; machines, 1actuating, cam pinsijfor risfilld :aattachment earned by the crowning,said

heads ,1 and ymeansvcontr'olling. the "action. of

priorgcrowning action ofisaid --gcrowning-heads. V l

heads, @means carried. by each crowning head and 7. A '-.brandinga,ttachment' r011 "bottle v crowning,machines adapted to be operatedthrough :the -.movcment of the crowning heads, specialactuatingnmeansfor said attachment carried a by. each gcrowning .head, and .meanscontrolling-1the-operativeness of wsald actuatingmeansafor each head bythe .20-

act Qfapplyinga-crOWn bylsaid head. 8. Thecombinationvwithabottlecrownmg zdevice, a-xcrown-feeding.device, .and a crown -;-brandingdevice ,acting upon the crowns in their passage throughthe feedingdevice, of means for actuating the crown -'bran d1ng device controlledby the :PIlOl zplacing ofca crown upon a bottle. I

9. The combination-with a bottlecrowningsmachine-and;a-crownbrandingdevice, of

;'andmeans'forrendering said-memberoperative through: the actionofa-bottlewhen it is a member iomactuatingthe branding j device,

crowned.

10. The combinationrwithabottle crownmg machine-havingra plurality ofcrowning and ;a crown branding :device, of

movable relative thereto for actuatingithe branding device, meansnormally -placingsaida brandereactuatin-g -means in non-operativeposition, v and means, actuated by thebot- -tles when crowned-for;;-placing said brander actuating meansin operativeposition.

' crown-brandlng .device comprising a chute for the vsingle-file passageof s. the

.crowns,a branding head movableto engage the crowns in said chute, twostop pinsycon- I nected' to move withv said-head and tobe a1- ternately.insertedrin said chute .aboveqand below, the crowns as, branded.

. 12. A crown-brandingattachment for botthe operation of crowningabottle.

actuated by said tappet-members when proj -l3. In a bottle crowning=machine,:in1 combination, a plurality of crowning headsweach having acrowning member=reciprocated by --tlecrowning machines,comprising-a-movable nbranding head, a crown chute, stopsiactuated byvsaid branding head controllingthe feedlng otthe crowns, a cam for!gactuating :sa1d =sbranding head, and a-mov able;tapp et;mem abercarried ,byeach-;crowning:rhead:,:,and i moved into position to engage,said: cam by the bottle during crowning, tappetmembers 1 each moved bythe reciprocation of itsparticular crowning member, and means I forholding said tappet membersa'sso; moved.

until acted upon by a superior force,; and a crown brandingattaclnnentpositionedto be.

from its operative positionbetween the time of actuating the branding Aattachment 1 and crowning a bottle. I I

15." i-he combination with aibottle crowning machine having, a

plurality; of. crowning heads movable in an or u it and each having acrowning member movable by: thebottleat a point in said orbit, acrowmbrandingattachment and means-for operating said attachmentcomprising a member :movable into operative position by said v crowningmember, means for yieldinglygholdingsaid "member as placed, and :meansfor moving 1 sald member into inoperative; positlonafter it has actuatedthe brandingattachment.

In testimony whereof we ,have hereunto affixed our signatures, atSeattle, Washington, this 16th day of January, 1908.

FRED M. GILMORE. MARTIN H. 'MULKEY.

Witnesses J. W. DRYDEN, E. F. VVEIDNER.

